Pakistan's new railway minister Sheikh Rashid has asked his officials to consider a proposal to take on lease rail engines from India for pulling heavy-load goods trains.

Rashid, who was recently shifted to Railways from the high-profile information ministry in a Cabinet reshuffle, told a high-level meeting of railway officials in Karachi on Monday that Railways needed heavy duty engines to pull 60-bogey goods trains from Karachi to different destinations in Pakistan.

A proposal to get the engines on lease from India could be considered, local daily Jang quoted Rashid as saying.

Perhaps this is the first time that the Pakistan Railways is considering turning towards India.

From rail engines to passenger compartments that run on the meter guage tracks and the signal equipment were mostly
supplied by China to Pakistan.

In recent media reports, railway officials blamed Chinese engines for a string of accidents.

Soon after Rashid took over the railway ministry, President Pervez Musharraf asked him to explore the possibility of establishing rail links between China and Pakistan.

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